LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 897 679 4 



HolUnger Corp. 
pH8.5 



_^rt^E 448 
Copy 1 






AFRICAN COLONIZATION: 




^VTV .4^0 l>lt i:?<j^ 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



/ 



AMERICAN COLONIZATIQN^-SQCLETY, 



IN washingt6% d. c 



JANUARY lO, 1875. 

BY REV. JOHN ORCUTT, D. D. 

OF NEW YORK. 



I 




[1_073. 



XJIEZR-AJESrsr OS' THE 

UNITED SPATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. \ 



Division 



SheTf 




AFRICAN COLONIZATION: 

A.]Sr ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

IN WASHINGTON, D.C., 



J'J^lSTTJJ^FL'^ 19, 18^3. 



^^. 



o^/ 



BY REY. JOHN ORCUTT. 1). D. 

OF NEW YORK. 



/ 



NEW YORK. 



'Oct 



ADDRESS;. 



No person well-informed on the snbjeet, will call in 
question either the motives or the good sense of the 
founders of the institution whose anniversar}' we cele- 
brate to-night. The evidence is too clear to admit of a 
rational doubt that they acted under the impulse of a 
broad philanthropy and in the light of a sound philoso- 
phy, and also in accordance with a decree of Heaven. 

The truth of this proposition I propose to illustrate 
and enforce. 

And the first question demanding attention is, What 
were the views and aims of those honored men who 
founded this Society ? 

Those of Rev. Robert Finlc}^ of New Jersey-, the 
leading spirit among them, are clearl}^ stated in a letter 
addressed to his friend, John P. Mumford, Esq., of the 
city of New York, about two years before the Society 
was organized. He wrote thus : 

"The longer I live to see the wretchedness of men, 
the more I admire the virtue of those Avho devise and 
with patience labor to execute plans for the relief of the 
wretched. On this subject the state of the free blacks 



4 ADDRESS. 

has vcrv iiiucli (icciij)i(Ml my mind. Tbeii* iiiimhei* iii- 
orcuses greatly, and tlieir ^Y^etdlcdness too, as appears 
to ine. Everything eonnected with tlieir condition, in- 
chidiug their color, is against them : nor is there much 
prospect that tlieir state can ever be greatly meliorated 
while they continue among us. Could, not the rich and 
benevolent devise means to form a colony on some part 
of the coast of Africa, similar to the one at Sierra Leone, 
which might gradually induce many free blacks to go and 
settle— devising for them the means of getting there, and 
of i>rotection and su})i)ort till they were established?" 
And as one of the benefits of such a colon}', he mentioned 
its civilizing and Christianizing influence upon Africa. 

Early in December, 1816, Dr. Finley visited Wash- 
ington for sympathy and su])port in his undertaking — 
ho])ing that it might be made an object of national con- 
cern. i>3' some it was received with favor ; by others it 
was ridiculed. But true to his convictions and firm in 
his i)urpose, he persevered in his efforts, meekly answer- 
ing the skeptic with the remark, '• I know this scheme is 
from God." .And on the 21st of December of that year, 
lifty-eiglit years ago last month, a public meeting was 
held in this city to consider the matter, with Hon. Henry 
Clay in the chair, and other prominent men in attend- 
ance, siu'h as Elias I). Caldwell, Dr. Finley 's brother-in- 
law, John Iiand(»lph of Roanoke, and Robert Wright of 
. Maryland. 

Mr. Clay made the opening address, in which he 
heartily endorsed tlie ])hin of colonizing the free peo[)le 



ADDRESS. 5 

of color ill Africa. Said he: "There is a peculiar, a 
moral Htness in restoring- them to the laud of their fa- 
thers. And if, instead of the evils and sutlerings which 
we have been the innocent cause of iuHictino- upon the 
inhabitants of Africa, we can transmit to her the bless- 
iugs of our arts, our civilization, and our religion, may 
we not hope that America will extinguish a great ])or- 
tion of that moral debt which she has contracted to that 
unfortunate continent ?'' 

Mr. Caldwell followed in the same line of remark. 
After giving other reasons in i\ivor of the proposed col- 
ony, he continued : '' But I have a greater and nobler 
object in view in desiring them to l)e placed in Africa. 
It is the belief that through them civilization and the 
Christian religion would thereb}' be introduced into that 
benighted quarter of the world. It is the hope of re- 
deeming many millions of people from the lowest state 
of superstition and ignorance, and restoring them to the 
knowledge and worship of the true (xod. Great and 
powerful as are the other motives to this measure (and 
I acknowledge them to l)e of sufficient magnitude to at- 
tract the attention and to call forth the united efforts of 
this nation) in my o})inion — and you will lind it the 
opinion of a large class of the community — all other mo- 
tives are small and trifling compared with the hope of 

spreading among them the knowledge of the Gospel 

Whatever may be the difference of o})inion among the 
different denominations of Christians, I believe they will 
all be found to nnite in the belief that the Scriptures 



G ADDRESS. 

predict a time Avlieii the Go^^pel of Jesus Christ sliall be 
s{)read over every i)art of the worhl, shall be aekiiowl- 
ed^ued In* evei-v nation, and perliaps shall inlluenee ever}' 
heart." Other ^ueiitlenien present arose and endorsed 
the i>lan. 

Sneh, then, were the views and aims of the imme- 
diate founders of this Soeiety, as expressed just one 
week prior to the adoption of its Constitution, Dec. 28, 
ISlii. On the following AVednesda}', Jan. 1, 1817, it 
held its iirst meeting, and was fully organized by the 
election of officers, Hon. Bushrod Washington being- 
made president, and Elias B. Caldwell, secretar}'. - En- 
rolled among its vice-presidents we find the immortal 
name of Robert Finley of Xew Jersey, who lived to en- 
joy the gratifying success with which his efforts had been 
crcjwned only a few months, for his earthly labors were 
closed by death in October of the same year. 

Two weeks after the formation of the Society, its 
President and Board of Managers presented a memorial 
to Congress containing these words : " If the experiment, 
in its more remote conse(|uences, should ultimateh' tend 
to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast 
and unnund)ered tribes yet obscured in })rimeval dark- 
ness, reclaim the rude wanderer from a life of wretched- 
ness to civilization and humanity, and convert the blind 
idolater from gross and abject superstitions to the hoh' 
charities, the sublime moi-ality and humanizing discipline 
of the (iospel, the nation or the individual that sliall 
have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the 



ADDRESS. 7 

benevolent enterprise, will have raised a niouunient of 
that true and imperishable glory founded in tlie moral 
ai)i)robation and gratitude of the human raee, unap- 
proachable to all but tlie eleetod iiistruineuts of divine 
beneficence." 

This memorial in the House of Itepresentatives was 
referred to an able committee,, from whose report we 
(^uote as follows: "It seems manifest that these peojde 
cannot be colonized within the limits of the United States. 
If they were not far distant, the rapidly-extending set- 
tlements of our white population would soon reach them, 
and the evil now felt would be renewed, probably with 
aggravated mischief. Were the colony to be remote, it 
must be planted on lands now occujjied l)y the native 
tribes of the country ; and could a territor}^ be i)ur- 
chased, the transportation of the colonists thither would 
be vastly expensive, their subsistence for a time difficult, 
and a body of troops would be required for their protec- 
tion. And after all, should these difficulties be over- 
come, the original evil would at length recur by the ex- 
tension of our white population Turning our eyes 

from our own country,, no other adai)ted to the colony 
in contemplation presented itself to our view nearer 
than Africa, the native land of negroes ; and })robably 
that is the only country on the globe to which it would 
be practicable to transfer our free people of color with 
safet}^ and advantage to themselves and the civilized 
world. It is the country which, in the order of Provi- 
dence, seems to have been appropriated to tliat distinct 



8 ADDRESS. 

liiinily of mankind. And while it presents the fittest 
:i<yliiiii loi- the IVoe people of color, it opens a wide field 
i'nv tlicii- iiiipi'ovciiuMit ill eivili/ation, morals, and reli- 
'/um. wliicli the humane and enlightened memorialists 
liave conceived it })ossil)le in })rocess of time to spread 
on that irreat continent."" 

It would be easy and very i)leasant to recite here a 
louu' list of distinguished names of the early endorsers of 
the })lan ; but suffice it to say, among them we find the 
names of Chief -Justice Marshall, General Lafayette, Bishop 
Meade, and Dr. Archibald Alexander. The latter of these, 
ill his inti-oduction to his history of African colonization, 
said: • As for himself, the writer is as fully persuaded 
ihat tlic plan of c(»loni/iug the free people of color in 
Africa is wise and benevolent, as he ever was of the 
wisdom and benevolence of any human enterprise," We 
are here on this occasion to adopt and defend this senti- 
ment. 

We belong to that Christian brotherhood referred to 
by I^]lias B. Caldwell, who believe in the final triumph of 
Christian ('i\ili/ation in every land and in every clime. 
AVe accept this as a truth revealed in the Scriptures. 

But there is another volume given us for our instruc- 
lioii on tlie subject. A thoughtful Christian scholar once 
iiifide tin's remark: "(Tod is a i)reacher ; the i)rinciples 
nf his moral government are his text, the Bible his ser- 
iMon, and Providence the application." 

Xow light, greatly needed in this matter, is not to l)e 
iMUiid in the sermon as stated, but in the application; not 



ADT)RK>'S. 9 

in the Bible, but in the book ol" ProviiU'ncc Lot us llieii 
study and profit by the lessons thus set before us. 

It is a historic fact, Avhich no one is disposed to deny. 
that Christian civilization 1)ep:an its march in Asia; and 
after permeating the most of that continent with its recii- 
l)erative influences, passed into Enro|>e with similar re- 
sults ; thence across the Atlantic, nnd westward still, till 
it has, in our day, reached the Pacific ocean, keeping- 
itself within the limits of that belt of the earth called the 
Northern Temperate Zone. 

It is true that the northern part of Africa was illu- 
minated by the burning altar of Christianity for three 
hundred years : that Egypt and Carthage were once 
highly civilized ; but it has been well said, as Egypt 
derived its ideas from Asiatic sources, its place in his- 
tory is Asiatic, rather than African ; and Carthage be- 
ing Phoenician, when those two cities were absorbed into 
Rome, North Africa belonged much more to the Euro- 
l)ean than to the properly African quarter of the globe. 
And it is worthy of note, that the portion of xVfrica thus 
enlightened for three centuries, lies north of the tropic of 
Cancer, i. e., in the one single zone upon which the star 
of empire, in its westward course, shed its light. 

And who were the actors employed in planting, ex- 
tending, and sustaining civil and Christian institutions in 
xlsia, Europe, and North America? They were the 
Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Persian, 
the Greek, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Goth, the 
Frank, the Englishman, and the Anglo-American — races 

1* 



10 ADDRESS. 

foiisiihiiioiially fitted for the Avork assigned, tliem by tlio 
very cireuiiistaiiccs of their birth and growth. They 
wvvv raised in the higher latitudes, which made their tis- 
sues coni})act. tough, and fibrous, which gave them vigor 
and tlie jjower of endurance. With these and other 
requisite endowments, they Avent forth in the successful 
jn'osecution of their high mission ; and because our lines 
are fallen unto us in this particular latitude, we have 
been large partakers of its benefits. 

l>iit there is one continent still buried in the mid- 
night darkness of heathenism. It lies down in the inter- 
tropical regions alone, and 3'et within the reach of the 
covenant-promise which the Father made to the Son : 
'' Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession.^' " Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands 
unto God." 

AVho then shall be the bearers of the promised bless- 
ing to the teeming millions on the benighted continent of 
Africa? The importance of this question will be seen 
and felt by every Christian mind just in proportion as 
that mind is informed in regard to mission work in Af- 
rica, a detailed account of which would be insti'uctive. 
Ijut the merest summaiy must suffice. 

Passing over a })eriod of some two hundred and fifty 
years i)rior to 1730, during which the Romanists of dif- 
ferent nations and orders labored in vain to plant mis- 
sions on its west coast, the first Protestant missionary 
attempts were made l)y the ^Moravians in 1730, and were 



ADDRESS. 11 

continued tliirty-foiir years at the expense of iiumeroiis 
lives, and little or no good accomplished. The Eiinlisli 
followed, and with similar results. Three stations plant- 
ed by the London, KdinLurgh, and (llasgow Societies in 
1797, Avere extinct in three years, and live out of six 
missionaries dead. The Church Missionary Society, sul)- 
sequent to 1808, established at ditt'erent })oiiits aiul at- 
tempted to maintain ten stations, but soon failed in every 
instance. 

To say nothing then of the attempts and failures of 
Roman-catholics to get a foothold there for centuries, we 
have more than a hundred years of Protestant mission- 
ary, experiments with like ill success. And why did 
they all fail ? Why succeed in Asia, Europe, and Xorth 
America, and fail in Africa? Because of the unhealthi- 
ness of the climate to white men, and the hostility of the 
natives generated by the slavetraders. The question 
returns, How shall it be done ? Who are the work- 
men appointed to give Christian civilization to Af- 
rica ? 

If we can find any of her own children who have 
Ijeen brought into contact with Christian institutions, and 
thereby have been elevated to a level on which they are 
at all prepared for such a mission, we might suppose that 
Grod would send them. In the light of reason we might 
think so ; for the African has a tropical nature, a sensu- 
ous organization that is suited to the African climate, a 
constitution comparatively unaffected by miasmatic inllu- 
ences, before which white men fall like p-i-ass before the 



12 ADDRESS. 

mowci-'s srytlie. Besides, there is a manifest fitness and 

l»ro})riety, as ^Ir. Clay said, in sending the colored man. 

iri>repared for it, to enlighten his pagan brethren in the 

fatherland. 

AVell, it is apparent that we have some of the race in 
tlie United States ; and we cannot doubt they are here 
hy an overruling Providence as realh^ as Joseph was 
made to sojourn in Egypt by an overruling Providence, 
God meaning it for good, though Joseph's brethren, in 
their action in the case, had evil in their hearts. Nor are 
they here heathen bondmen as they Avere when brought 
here, but Christian .freemen, half a million of them com- 
municants in the church of God. 

Xow the question arises, Are these the appointed 
workmen to go forth and i)lant and sustain Christian in- 
stitutions in that i)agan land ? 

It may be said — some intelligent persons do say and 
honestly believe — that the African is incapable of doing 
such a work. Others equally intelligent and sincere 
think differently. And what saith reason? President 
Humi)hrey of Andierst College, one of the wisest men 
that ever lived, once said, "Every creature of God is 
capable of all the civilization it needs."' Let us apply 
this saying to the insect world. 

The bee makes a beautiful house. Is it not entirely 
sufficient for all the uses for which it was constructed? 
So in the aiiiiual world ; the beaver builds her house as 
if hy Inimaii reason. Does she need a better house? 
The application of the remark might be extended to all 



ADDRESS. 13 

the lower orders of rreution lor like illustrations of its 
truthfulness. 

NoAY, will any intelligent person venture to ussert that 
the negro does not need Christian eivilization — that it 
would not imi)rove the race in Africa ? If not, how can 
he doubt their ability to sustain it ? Whether they will 
ever come up to the level of the Anglo-Saxons does not 
concern us ; that is a question for the future to decide. 
But are they capable of self-government upon any plane 
of national responsibility ? To this question reason, we 
think, gives an affirmative answer. Xor are wq shut u]) 
to the mere light of reason in the matter. We have the 
concurrent testimony of facts. The experiment has been 
successfully tried for nearly a third of a century. The 
Republic of Liberia is a standing monument of theii- 
capability to govern themselves. Besides, all the great 
powers of the w^orld have acknowdedged the fact by for- 
mal recognition and international correspondence. And 
no less a diplomatist than Lord Palmerston w^as pleased 
to characterize the State Papers of President Roberts as 
comparing favorably with those he received from other 
countries. In a word, that the government of Liberia 
has been administered with a good degree of wisdom and 
discretion is the combined testimony of the civilized 
w^orld. 

We hesitate not to say, therefore, that the difficult 
problem is solved ; that a portion of the appointed w^ork- 
men for Africa's redemption, qualified and made read}' 
in this land, have gone forth to the field of their opera- 



14 ADDRESS. 

tioiis. and tliat. all tliin<is considered, thev liave thus far 
done tlieir work well. 

And how did they get over there? Their destined 
Held of labor was on the other side of the Atlantic, and 
to reacli it by a sailing-vessel required a voyage of five 
thousand miles : and how could they in their condition 
of i)0vert3' and dependence meet the expense of it ? God 
})rovided for that. There is no link wanting in the chain 
of his providence ; and one link in that chain touching 
the evangelization of Africa evidently is the American 
Colonization Society ; for it is the free bridge over which 
the prepared workmen could go. and have gone. 

We have hurriedly followed the course of the star 
of empire from Phoenicia to Grreece, from Greece to 
Home, from Rome to Britain, from Britain to the 
United States, and from the United States, after many 
generations of delay, to Africa, thus reaching the last 
great continent to be possessed and completing the cir- 
cle. Does not the history of these events, as presented 
to us in the l)ook of Providence, suggest a reason why 
Africa should be the last? Was it not because the work- 
man, according to the divine arrangement, would not ho 
sooner prepared to enter upon their mission ? 

lint it is said, Liberia is a failure. We hesitate not 
to say that the judgment of persons who thus speak of 
our colonization work in Africa is greath' at fault and of 
little value. Because Liberia does not i)resent to their 
vision evervthinii' desirable, thev seem to view it as con- 



ADDRESS. 15 

tainiiig little or nothiiiji- valuabk'. With about as miicli 
reason might they regard the sun in the heavens a fail- 
ure because its rays arc sometimes intercepted by clouds, 
or because it does not always shine with the same l)rill- 
iancy and beauty, or in accordance Avith their wishes or 
notions. 

While Ave would not claim for Liberia American sun- 
light, Ave think an obscured sun better than no sun, and 
half or quarter of a moon better than no moon, and eyen 
starlight preferable to no light. And Ave think that can- 
dor demands of eyery intelligent person such examina- 
tion of the subject as is necessary to create the conyic- 
tion that Liberia may justly be characterized as a bright 
star in the firmament, if nothing more. 

Reflect, it is only some sixt^^ years since that Avhole 
region Avas darkened by heathenism in its Avorst forms. 
XoAv a ciyilized people is there ; the English language is 
there ; the mechanic arts are there ; a groAving com- 
merce is there ; a goyernment Avith a Avritten constitu- 
tion is there ; churches and Sunday-schools arc there ; 
other schools and a college are there ; asylums and hos- 
pitals for the sick and needy are there ; fiye Missionary 
Boards in this countr}' haye missions there ; connected 
Avith those missions as clergymen and Christian Avork- 
ers, oyer one hundred and thirty of the emigrants sent 
by this Societ}' or their children, are there ; all the 
means and appliances necessarA' to the groAvth and per- 
manency of a poAverful nation are there : and 3'et Libe- 
ria is pronounced a failure I 



IC. ADDRESS. 

J^iich was not tlio judgment of the Westminster Revieio 
even in tlie earlier and darker days of the colony. It 
said : 

" The Americans arc snccessfnlly })Ianting free ne- 
groes on the coast of Africa, a greater event probably 
in its consequences than any that has occurred since 
("olnmbus set sail for the New AYorld.*' Xor was such 
the opinion of Theodore Frelinghuysen when, addressing 
the annual meeting of this Society in the hall of the 
House of Representatives forty-one years ago, he spoke 
of Liberia in this language : " Like the Star in the East, 
which announced the Saviour to the astonished magi, it 
j)oints to the advent of the same Redeemer, coming in 
the power of his Spirit to roll away the darkness of a 
thousand generations. Yes, sir, there is hope for Africa, 
(rod, I believe, is preparing his way before him. The 
harvest begins to ripen, and the slumber of ages will 
soon be broken ; and those beams of light that now re- 
fresh our hopes, will expand and spread through the 
heavens, until they shall be lost in the splendors of an 
eternal day." 

African colonization a mistake and a failure ? No, 
no : the voice of history cries in trumpet-tones. No ! On 
the contrary, as the late lamented Joseph Tracy has 
clearly shown, the attempts of Romanists and Protes- 
tants, for a period of nearly four centuries, to sustain 
missions there ivitltout colonies, were signal failui'cs, Avhile 
every attem])t to introduce Christianit}' and civilizatiini 
by colonizing Afi-ica with peo])le of African descent has 



ADDRESS. 17 

been, in a greater or less degree, successful. Every sueli 
colony planted still subsists ; and wherever its jurisdic- 
tion extends has banished piracy and the slave-trade ; 
extinguished domestic slavery ; i)nt an end to human 
sacrifices and cannibalism ; established a constitutional 
civil government, trial by jury, and the reign of law : 
introduced the arts, usages, and comforts of civili/ed life, 
and imparted them to more or less of the natives ; estab- 
lished schools, built houses of worshi}), gathered churches. . 
sustained the preaching of the gospel, protected mission- 
aries, and seen native converts received to Christian 
communion. Not a colony has been atte^njJted without lead- 
ing to all these residts. Yes, we can point to Liberia as a 
tree planted by this Society whose roots and trunk and 
branches arc in their nature colonization, but by a divine 
grafting has yielded much missionary fruit. 

In the great current of events, of how little impor- 
tance are the mistaken opinions, the blind assertions, and 
the opposing influences of a few or many individuals ! 
Like eddies in a mighty river, they only make a little 
disturbance within the small circles of their influence, 
while the stream steadily and majestically rolls on as if 
they did not exist. 

One point more : There is a prevailing impression 
that in the changed state of things since the war the work 
of this Society is no longer needed, or at most is valua- 
ble simply and purely as a missionary association. If it 
were so, we might well consider the (piestion of closing 
up the concern. 



1 s ADDRESS. 

There is a principle involved in the histitution, dis- 
tinctly recognized by its funnders. that should not be 
overlooked or foruotten. AVe refer to that affinity of 
race, implanted in the human mind, which makes it im- 
practicable for the Avliite race and the black race in this 
country ever to dwell together upon terms of full social 
equality. If this element of power in the institution 
gave it importance half a century ago, why does it not 
now ? Is it not as true now as then that because of such 
a law the highest destiny of the negro can never be real- 
ized under the shadow of the Anglo-Saxons ? You may 
call it fastidiousness, foolishness, wickedness ; good sense. 
l)ad sense, or nonsense, or am^thing you please ; it is 
something which cannot be extinguished, and which legis- 
lation cannot control. 

Possibly some one present may be thinking of that 
passage of Scripture so often quoted, "Ana hath made 
of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 
face of the earth;" but why stop at a comma? why not 
(piote the remainder of the verse ? "and hath determined 
the times before appointed, and the bounds of their hab- 
itation."' 

Consider, because a man is a man, it does not follow 
that all men are white men, or black men, or red men. 
A l)ird is a l)ird, but every bird is not a blackbird, or a 
bluebird, or a yellowbird ; and it would be worse than 
folly to try to make it so. Xor have all birds the same in- 
stincts and lial)its. One si)ecies builds its nest upon the 
sand : another in a chimnev : another on a tree : another in 



ADDRESS. 19 

the clefts of the mountains, and so on ; just where "Mother 
Gary's chickens'' in mid-ocean make tlieir nest, we don't 
feel called u})on to decide. It is sullicient that they 
know where, and how, and when to do.it. And some 
birds are migratory in their habits, following the sun 
after a mild temperature ; while others seem to have a 
fondness for colder regions, and to enjoy even a snow- 
storm. Now this diversity in preference and habit 
among the fowls of the air, is but a manifestation of the 
instinctive laws of their being. So is it with other 
orders of God's creatures ; nor is man an exception. 
The great Father of us all did not make a mistake in 
giving Africa to the black man, and the black man to 
Africa. It was doubtless for the highest good of all 
concerned. 

But, says one, "Are you going to drive the negro 
out of the country?'' No; we don't propose either to 
drive him away or compel him to stay. It is a matter 
submitted to his own free will. The language of our 
constitution is, "with their own consent." They have 
three rights in the case : a right to go, and a right not to 
go, and a right to choose between the two. But when 
they have deliberately made up their minds to go, it be- 
comes a serious and important question, whether a moral 
responsibility does not rest upon the individual and ui)on 
the NATION to furnish the requisite means. 

As to promoting emigration by coercion, we would 
say further, there is a kind of force which is manifestly 
justifiable and even commendable. Take an illustration 



20 ADDRESS. 

of it. An intelligent colored man in a northern city, 
recently remarked to a friend of mine residing there, "I 
want to leave the city and the conntry." " Why," said 
the white nnm, "don't the people here use you well?'' 
'•()h, yes," said he; ''but the effort they make to use 
me well, makes me feel that I am a negro." Man}' a 
black man. n*^ doubt, has felt the force of that remark 
as no white man can feel it. 

President lloberts, who emigrated to Liberia more 
than forty years ago, remarked in a puljlic discourse on 
his last visit to this country, " I have no disposition to 
urge my colored brethren to leave the country, but as 
for me, I could not live in the United States." Profes- 
sor Freeman, of Liberia College, when on a visit a few 
years ago to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he had formerly 
spent twelve years as a teacher in a college for the edu- 
cation of colored people, was offered strong inducements 
to remain there and resume his former position in that 
institution, which he declined ; and the Trustees put this 
question to him, "What will you stay for. Freeman?"' 
His answer was in substance as follows: "I will stay, 
gentlemen, for what either of you white men would con- 
sent to become a negro for, and live in Pennsylvania, 
and transmit his social status to 3'our children." 

Such cases show us how God uses the incompatibility 
])etween the two races for the accomplishment of his be- 
nevolent pur])Oses towards Africa. The Rev. Dr. Van 
Pensselaer, in a dedicatory discourse which he delivercMl 
.some twenty years ago, at the opening of the Ashmun 



ADDRESS. 21 

Institute for tlie LeiiclU of colorcnl i)e()i)lo, near Oxford. 
Pennsylvania, spoke thus: '"There is a natural eonge- 
niality between the blacks as blaeks, and l)et\veen the 
whites as whites — a congeniality that will assert its 
claims in the time of God's demand, and operate to i)ro- 
duce sympathy of feeling and of action between the 
African population in America and in Africa.'' We have 
seen something of the fulfilment of that i)rediction al- 
ready, and Ave believe that some power will continue to 
work, and become more and more potent in i)ro})ortion 
as our colored j)eople become elevated and enlightened. 
If you want to keep them here, keep them in ignorance, 
and you will be more likely to succeed. If vou would 
have them, under God, fultil the high mission of redeem- 
ing a continent from the thraldom of sin and death, pre- 
pare them for it, and aid them in it. 

No more fitting words could be used, we think, in 
closing, than are contained in an oration delivered before 
a literary society in Union College, about ten years ago. 
by the late Rev. Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge of Ken- 
tucky. 

"I cannot tell but that it may be the will of God, 
seeing he has used first the Asiatic dark races, and then 
the European w^hite races, as repositories of his infinite 
gifts and mercies to mankind, to use, finally, the African 
black races in a similar glorious way. But to suppose, 
that in doing this, he will make the black race and the 
white race essentially one. or essentially alike, or will strip 
either of them of its essential peculiarities, which are the 



22 ADDRESS. 

very basis of its destiny, high or low, is to reverse, abso- 
hitely. every lesson we can draw from all that he has 
hitherto said and done. 

"The Anieriean eolonies of free blacks on the west 
coast of Africa deserve to be ranked among the highest 
enterprises of modern times. .Vnd I may be allowed, on 
this occasion, to reiterate what I have taught so long, 
that a powerful and civilized state within the tropics has 
been the one crying necessity of the human race from 
the dawn of history ; and that for us, and for the black 
race, the creation of such a state from the American 
descendants of that race, is the highest form in which 
that great necessity can be supplied." 



Note, — The planting of Liberia by this Society, is the cheapest 
colonization work in human history. The entire cost does not 
much exceed $2,500,000, while the British government expended 
upon Sierra Leone, during the first half century' of its existence, 
more than $30,000,000. 



^ t7 6^9 L62 XT0 



ssaaoNOD do Adbaan 



H< 



A 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 897 679 4 -■ 



